Sounders FC 4, Comunicaciones 1, quotes and stats

(Opening comments…) “We’re pleased with the victory. In this tournament you have to win home games. It was nice to be able to start off the tournament at home. I thought our team showed a lot of character to come back again from 1-0. Being 1-1 and having a player ejected and playing a man down and being able to score two goals showed a little bit more. I thought we did a good job attacking. There were times where they were dangerous for sure on the counterattack and caused us some problems. Overall I was pleased with our ability to finish our chances today.”

(On playing from behind…) “I told the team at halftime that there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that we let the other team score two minutes into the game. The good news is that when the other team scores first it seems that we score a goal, so we’ll score some goals today.”

(On players returning from injury…) “I thought they were successful. I thought Kennedy played well. I think it took him 10 or 15 minutes to get into the game, but after that I thought he was solid. Brad Evans shows what he helps provides us by getting that goal off the corner kick and getting an assist. He was pretty good at winning those flick-ons. Those are little things that are really important that often times get overlooked. I thought he was solid. I didn’t expect him to be able to go 90 minutes, but I think he conserved his energy at the right times and was able get through it. I thought both of their returns were good.”

(Did they get through the game OK physically?) “Yeah. They’re fine.”

(On Terry Boss…) “The first goal shook everybody up a little bit, maybe him as well. After that he settled in and I thought he played OK. There was one scramble in the second half. It was tough to tell from where I was at what exactly happened there. We can’t play Kasey every game, every game. We need to give him some rest as well and I thought Terry came up and played well today.”

(Did you see the non-goal in the 80th minute? [Ed note: This was asked after Fucito answered below]) “I was further away than Mike was, so I could see less.”

(On Lamar Neagle’s ejection…) “He didn’t go to kick the man. He went to play the ball. The ball was gone and he swung pretty aggressively. I can’t argue with the red card. It was probably a red card and there were probably a couple others. There were a couple of two-footed tackles and certainly the foul on Rosales late was something that didn’t look as violent, but was more violent from the standpoint that we might have a player who is injured and they have a player who is able to walk it off. I can’t argue that. It was a red card. He swung and missed the ball. It sounded pretty violent and looked pretty violent.”

(On number of cards…) “There were a lot of cards. Some referees pull a lot of cards. I haven’t coached in a game where he’s refereed before, but I understand from having talked to people that he likes to pull a lot of cards. He did tonight.”

(On starting Fucito…) “As we’ve said, I think our team is deep and to play in a tournament like this we have to rely on that depth. I told the guys before the game that every guy we’re putting out there in my mind has the ability to be a starter or is a starter on this team. Mike started for us in a series of games where we did well as a team and he had some moments. Sometimes you get in and out of form a little bit, but I thought his training had gotten a lot better of late. He deserved the opportunity to get out there and play and he rewarded me, but mainly he rewarded himself. When you do that then you get more opportunities.”

(On CCL chances now…) “Better. It’d be nice if we could play the next two at home. It would be better for us. (laughs) Going to Monterrey is difficult. The most important thing in this tournament is winning our games at home. If we can win our games at home, then we’ll see what we can get on the road. We’re pleased that we got off to a better start and gives our team a lot more confidence.”

MIKE FUCITO, Sounders FC forward

(On his two goals tonight…) “I’m just trying to make the most of opportunities and doing what I can to help the team when given the opportunity.”

(On their play offensively…) “I thought at times our movement was good. That was something that we talked about at halftime was making sure that we were moving off the ball, because there were spells in the first half when we were getting decent looks and we knew the more movement (we had) the more opportunities (there’d be). I thought Fredy played a great ball and so did Flaco and I was able to get it and finish.”

(On Comunicaciones’ near goal in the 80th minute…) “The one where it was on our line? From what I saw it was on the line. I didn’t see it go over but I wasn’t really in the best position to see it.”

BRAD EVANS, Sounders FC midfielder

(Not to take anything from your goal, but did it come off your shoulder?) “100-percent came off the shoulder. Well, it came off my head, but then it hit my shoulder. I think if it would’ve come off my head the guy would’ve saved it. Luckily it came off the shoulder and (kind of) went over his head.”

(How were you guy able to respond to the red card like you did?) “I don’t know. We were talking about that. This year when we’ve played a man down I think we’ve played a little bit better and little more urgently than we have with 11 guys on the field, for whatever reason. You see it all over the world. It adds a little more urgency. Guys tend to play a little smarter and tend to give 10-15 more percent here or there. We didn’t really talk about much. We said we were going to keep our shape and we’ll catch them on the break. They were getting tired; we were bound to get a couple goals. For us, we just stick to a game plan and results usually come your way.”

(On a slow start…) “It was definitely chaotic in the beginning. It’s a new tournament, new surroundings, a team you’ve never even seen before play — you have no idea what to expect. It is tough to play your game, but once we settled into it I think that we found a little rhythm. Regardless if they scored, we still would’ve found our rhythm and we still would’ve played the way we did. I thought we did a much better job middle of the way through the first half of figuring out how to break them down and what we were going to do. We stuck to that game plan. Fucito held the ball up well. With the movement we were talking about, they weren’t going to stick with us. Move the ball well and finish our chances, that was the name of the game.”

(On getting back on the field…) “I think that was the first time I’ve played 90 minutes in two months or so. For me, I just want to be healthy. Being able to wear the captain’s armband today was something special. I’ve never gotten to do that with an MLS team, even in a reserve game. For me, anytime you put the band on you want to play well, you want to show well. I think I had a decent game, we came out with a victory and that’s the most important thing.”

(When did you find out?) “Right before the game. 10-15 minutes before the game.”

(How’d Sigi tell you?) “He brought me into the office, said it was his idea. I wasn’t expecting it and no matter what you wear it with pride.”

(On getting a good start to the CCL…) “I wasn’t even a part of the Champions League last year so for me this was huge. Anytime you can get wins in tournament like this, like I said it’s teams you’ve never played before, players you’ve never seen. It’s a great test and a quality side, so for us it’s a huge win. In MLS you see the same thing over and over again, but this is a new experience. It’s a good start and hopefully we can get a good result on the road next week.”

FREDY MONTERO, Sounders FC forward

(On CONCACAF Champions League…) “Well, certainly the players in Central America, they come with these street smarts and they make us work with a lot more effort and we have to concentrate a lot more, even when the rivalry is not necessarily controlling the game all the time. The good thing is that even after we were losing we managed to tie, and later on – even a man-down – we managed to score more goals as well.”

PATRICK IANNI, Sounders FC defender

(On his injury…) “I don’t think I’ve ever had a hamstring injury so I don’t know how bad it is but I don’t think it’s that bad.”

(On if it felt like he needed to be carted off the field…) “No, every time they bring the cart on the field, you have to get on it. It’s the rules of CONCACAF.”

(On the game changing to their favor after they were issued a red card…) “Yeah, I think we were good for the whole 90 minutes, really. I think Fucito just came up with two really good strikes. I think we had chances in the first half but maybe none better than Fucito’s – he just took those two shots really well in all honesty.”

(On scoring four goals in another comeback victory…) “I think it’s good for our forwards, especially for Fucito, to get a couple goals and get their confidence going. I know he (Fucito) knows what he can do. We all know what he can do but when you get goals they just seem to keep coming. So hopefully they keep coming for him and for the team, and Brad (Evans) did well on his first one. It’s good for him (Evans) to get one coming back from all the injuries that he’s had. Brad (Evans) works as hard as anyone and deserves the best so it’s good for him as well as an individual and the more we keep playing well, the more wins we’ll have.”

(On how important it is playing with maturity in the Champions League…) “Yeah, every game that’s important. You have to know the referees. Referees for every game are different. Even a particular referee, if you had him for five games in a row, he’d be different every game, just like us as players are different and have different kinds of performances as well. It’s just a thing you have to be aware of and like you said, be mature, be smart about the kind of referee that’s out there and play accordingly.”

(On having Brad Evans back…) “Brad is a very good player. Every time he steps on the field he gives 100 percent and I think the team feeds off his energy in the midfield, certainly. It’s one of those things where if you give your all as a player you can ask a lot of others as well, and I think Brad has a good way of doing that and it really helps our team.”

IVAN SOPEGNO, Comunicaciones coach (via translator)

(Opening statement…) “Four goals, it’s tough to explain. The first half was excellent and we had a good handle on the match, but the reality of football is like this. The other team all of a sudden became precise and very fast. But I still think that we put in a good effort and we had a moment that we could be reacting in that second half with a ball that supposedly got in, at least in our point of view, not the referee and in my opinion that was a mistake that cost us a lot.”

(How do you feel you reacted after going up 1-0?) “You have to consider that the other team is also generating situations, so we have to manage the ball to control the game and be able to go forward. The other team managed to come with very precise plays. We also had some set pieces that could’ve got in, but in the end they tied the game with a very precise corner with a great header.”

(On the physical nature of the game…) “Yes, indeed the local team was very strong and very fast. We already knew if we left space for them behind us they would’ve taken the opportunity and that’s exactly what happened.”

(On his player’s red card in the 80th minute…) “It’s not much to comment. It’s a bad attitude, bad from the player. The player cannot react like that. We have to recognize that there is a lot of pressure, but that’s definitely not how you should react.”

(Why couldn’t you take advantage of being up a man?) “It’s a very good question. I noticed that there was a trend and the other team was controlling the ball when the game was still 1-1. We could’ve put more pressure, we could’ve put more attack, but that actually opened space for the counterattack. Sometimes one has to know what we have and what we don’t have. We had to work, the possession, and that’s what ended up happened.”

(On Fucito…) “(He’s) a very good player. We saw the videos. We knew that the team was very fast, very strong, could take advantage of the field — a fast pitch — as well. It’s more evidence that football in the U.S. is progressing and advancing quite a bit.”